Ohio Code 3511.11 – Procedure upon board receiving ballots
(A) Uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballots delivered to the office of the board of elections not later than the close of the polls on election day shall be processed and counted in the manner provided in section 3509.06 of the Revised Code.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3511.11
- Uniformed services: means :
(1) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States;
(2) The merchant marine, the commissioned corps of the public health service, or the commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States;
(3) The national guard and the organized militia. See Ohio Code 3511.01
(B) A return envelope is not required to be postmarked in order for a uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballot contained in it to be valid. Except as otherwise provided in this division, whether or not the return envelope containing the ballot is postmarked, contains a late postmark, or contains an illegible postmark, a uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballot that is received by mail after the close of the polls on election day through the fourth day after the election day shall be processed and counted on the fifth day after the election day at the office of the board of elections in the manner provided in section 3509.06 of the Revised Code if the voter signed the identification envelope by the close of the polls on election day. However, if a return envelope containing a uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballot is so received, but the identification envelope in it is signed after the close of the polls on election day, the uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballot shall not be counted.
(C) The following types of uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballots shall not be counted:
(1) Uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballots that are received by the board of elections after the close of the polls on the day of the election, and that contain an identification envelope that is signed after the close of the polls on election day;
(2) Uniformed services or overseas absent voter’s ballots that are received after the fourth day following the election.
The uncounted ballots shall be preserved in their identification envelopes unopened until the time provided by section 3505.31 of the Revised Code for the destruction of all other ballots used at the election for which ballots were provided, at which time they shall be destroyed.
Last updated January 19, 2023 at 10:35 AM